Religious Saints

Fr. Stanley Rother was true to his word. He did not run. And was martyred at the age of 46. Fr. Stanley arrived in Guatemala in 1968, and immediately identified with his parishioners' simple, farming lifestyle. He learned their languages, prepared them for the Sacraments, and cared for their needs. Fr. Stanley had found his heart's calling. In early 1981, his name was on a death list, so he returned to Oklahoma and was warned not to return. But he could not abandon his people, so he went back, and made the ultimate sacrifice for his faith.

Carlo Acutis, born in 1991, fully embraced the gift of life. Known as a computer whiz, he liked to play soccer, video games, and the saxophone. He enjoyed watching his favorite dramas and making short films with his cast of cats and dogs. He had many friends and enjoyed spending time with them. Yet Carlo was a little "different" at school, in the pizzerias, and on the soccer field. What set Carlo apart was his constant pursuit of holiness.

In C. S. Lewis and the Catholic Church, Joseph Pearce delves into Lewis's life, writings, and spiritual influences to shed light on the matter. Although C. S. Lewis's conversion to Christianity was greatly influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien, a Catholic, and although Lewis embraced many distinctively Catholic teachings, such as purgatory and the sacrament of Confession, he never formally entered the Church.

Saint Patrick was, by his own admission, a controversial figure. Convicted in a trial by his elders in Britain and hounded by rumors that he settled in Ireland for financial gain, the man who was to become Ireland’s patron saint battled against great odds before succeeding as a missionary. Saint Patrick Retold draws on recent research to offer a fresh assessment of Patrick’s travails and achievements. This is the first biography in nearly 50 years to explore Patrick’s career against the background of historical events in late antique Britain and Ireland.

A teenage girl named Thecla is sitting at her bedroom window listening to a man share stories nearby. Her mother and fiancé order her to stop. But Thecla, trapped in a world that expects her to marry and have children, refuses. This man, Paul, is talking about a world she wants to believe in: an inner world of freedom to define her own life. And he’s talking about a kind of love she hasn’t known before—a love that asks her to be true to who she is within.

Born Helena Kowalska on a clear August day in 1905, to a poor Polish family, she was the third of 10 children. When Helena turned 19, she felt called by Jesus to go to Warsaw and enter a convent. After arriving, she was turned down by convent after convent, until finally, one accepted her. She took the name Faustina and stayed in the convent until her death in 1938.

While a young man, Devi Mukherjee worked with Mahatma Gandhi in the Indian resistance movement and was imprisoned for five months. After release, Devi began a spiritual quest throughout India, traveling some 45 years at various times.

In 1939, a team of workers beneath the Vatican unearthed an early Christian grave. This surprising discovery launched a secret quest that would last decades a quest to discover the long-lost burial place of the Apostle Peter. From earliest times, Christian tradition held that Peter, a lowly fisherman from Galilee, whom Christ made leader of his church was executed in Rome by Emperor Nero and buried on Vatican Hill. But his tomb had been lost to history. Now, funded anonymously by a wealthy American, a small army of workers embarked on the dig of a lifetime.

While visiting Siena, Italy, Mary Lea Carroll grew fascinated with the remarkable story of St. Catherine of Siena and made a resolution: Whenever she was lucky enough to travel, if a shrine dedicated to a female saint was nearby, she'd visit it and learn about her. What started as a hobby grew into a journey she never expected, one rich with challenges and cappuccinos, doubts and inspiration, glasses of wine with strangers and moments of transcendence.

In his sixth God's Generals volume, Roberts Liardon chronicles some of the great martyrs for the faith - and some of the lesser-known ones. Their inspirational testimony, acts of courage, and even seasons of doubt both encourage and point awareness toward the persecuted church of the 21st century. The audiobook includes profiles on Apostle Paul and Stephen the Faithful (c. 100 AD), martyrs from the 18th, 19th, and 21st centuries, and so many more!

One part biography, one part prayer book, The Life and Prayers of Saint Padre Pio is an essential for any Christian. The foundation for Padre Pio's work in the world was love. His love of God became intertwined with his love of humanity so that the two became inseparable and unwavering. Padre Pio is notable not for his erudition or even his teachings, per se, but for the man he was and the intercessor he continues to be. Pio gave himself to Christ as a spiritual victim for the souls of sinners.

Although there is so little written about Joseph in the Scripture and in the apocrypha, or perhaps because there is so little written, the life of Saint Joseph can be quite a complicated subject. The theological study of Saint Joseph, known as Josephology, shows us how differently the saint has been perceived throughout history, in different parts of the world, and in different denominations.

For more than 500 years, the story of Joan of Arc has been an inspiration and a mystery. The least likely of heroines, a peasant girl with no education and no prospects, Joan turned herself into the legendary Maid of Orleans, knight, martyr, and saint. Following a voice she knew was God's, she led an army to victory in battle and crowned the king of France, only to be captured by her English enemies and burned at the stake as a heretic, all by the age of 19.

In 1975, two centuries after her birth, Pope Paul VI canonized Elizabeth Ann Seton, making her the first saint to be a native-born citizen of the US in the Roman Catholic Church. Hers was an exemplary early American life of struggle, ambition, questioning, and faith, and in this flowing biography, Catherine O'Donnell has given Seton her due.

The Life of Saint Macrina is a significant work of early Christian literature written by Bishop Gregory of Nyssa. In the form of a letter to the monk Olympus, Gregory describes the life and influence of his sister Macrina. Macrina – also known as "Macrina the Younger" – had helped to establish a monastery and convent in Pontus (in modern-day Turkey) in the fourth century AD. The story centres on Gregory’s final visit to Macrina and is written as testimony to her piety, sanctity, and holy influence.

Le Saint-Esprit est l'âme de notre vie spirituelle, sans lui nous ne pouvons ni prier, ni comprendre la Parole de Dieu, ni aimer. Or, nous le connaissons si peu ! Le père Cantalamessa nous offre ici neuf jours pour Le découvrir, L'inviter dans notre cœur, devenir Son ami... Pour renouveler de l'intérieur toute notre vie spirituelle !

Si l'Église réfléchit depuis déjà longtemps autour de la protection de la nature, jamais un pape ne lui a consacré une encyclique, son mode d'expression le plus solennel. Les mots italiens "Laudato si': Dieu soit loué", qui ouvrent la première encyclique du pape François sont les premiers du "Cantique des créatures", écrit par Saint François d'Assise peu avant sa mort en 1226. Considéré comme l'un des premiers textes de la littérature italienne, le Poverello y célèbre Dieu à travers sa création : frère soleil, sœur lune, frère vent, sœur eau, frère feu, notre mère la terre.

Frère François naît à la fin du XIIe siècle, dans une Italie divisée par les guerres, entre les murs d'une petite cité moyenâgeuse : Assise...

Considered by many to be the first autobiography/memoir ever written, Confessions is a retrospective view of a life challenged by uncertainty, doubt, human frailty, and earthly desires. Augustine discovers and cherishes a deeply personal relationship with his God, all while describing the day-to-day dealings of his life in the fading, corrupt days of the Roman Empire.

There are many editions of the writings of St. Francis, and many biographies about him, but here in one volume are both, plus the complete text of the late medieval work The Little Flowers, which did more to establish the legend of the man than any other work. This edition includes the complete Road to Assisi, Paul Sabatier's groundbreaking and foundational biography of the saint, first published in French in 1894; the complete Francis in His Own Words: The Essential Writings; and The Little Flowers, thus offering the best introduction to St. Francis yet available between two covers.